China plans to open its Tiangong space station for tourism within a decade
China is looking to spark interest in space tourism by opening its soon-to-be-completed space station to everyday citizens. Yang Liwei, who made history in 2003 by becoming China’s first astronaut in space, told Chinese media earlier this month that people without formal astronaut training could soon visit the Tiangong space station. “It is not a matter of technology but of demand,” Yang said when asked if the general public would be able to tour Tiangong. “And it can be realised within a decade as long as there is such demand.”
But first China needs to complete the threemodule, T-shaped space station and make it fully operational. China plans to launch six missions this year to complete Tiangong. These will be launches of two new modules, a pair of cargo supply missions and two crewed missions, Shenzhou 14 and
Shenzhou 15. These two three-person missions are also expected to carry out the first crew handover, which will temporarily see six astronauts aboard the space station.
But Shenzhou spacecraft, which launch from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert on an established Long March 2F rocket, won’t be the only option for getting tourists into space. China is working on a reusable rocket for human spaceflight which would be capable of launching a new, larger and partially reusable crew spacecraft to the space station. The new approach would mean more people could fly to space at once.
Whereas Shenzhou spacecraft can transport only three astronauts, the new generation of crewed space transportation vehicles will be capable of carrying six to seven astronauts, Huang Kewu, a human spaceflight official with the country’s main space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said last year.